February 22, 2014

Sex rears it's ugly headThere are some great movies with lousy titles. 'I Married A Monster From Outer Space' would be better as a tabloid headline or the title of a musical comedy. Looking past the screaming poster and the title, which deserves at least two exclamation marks, there's a sinister sci-fi horror lurking beyond. Not much of a budget, but moody black and white cinematography that money can't buy and a script brimming with sexual tension and subtext.

The decade of the 1950s, when you couldn't talk directly about sex or show it. But that's the core of this story. A newlywed couple has had the groom swapped out on his wedding night, replaced with an alien from outer space. The question looms in every scene - will she have sex with an alien? And what does he want? But they can't talk about it explicitly...There are many 'aliens that look like humans' stories, the best being Invaders From Mars, Invasion of the Body Snatchers and the TV series The Invaders - all obsessed with finding the details in appearance and behaviour that allow us to tell friend from foe.

Here the paranoia has reached the bedroom, which makes for an enduring theme - who are you sleeping with? Beneath the sci-fi story are layers of sexual angst and hints of impotence and frigidity. It's also enjoyable as sci-fi, played deadly serious by all involved. Creepy too, but the delicate way we learn about what goes on between these two newlyweds still has dramatic punch without showing everything. There's also a strong element of Rosemary's Baby (written nine years later) as the new bride turns to friends for help, only to find that they've been taken over as well...

The extraordinary alien make-up was sculpted by Charles Gemora, who also built (and performed) the alien E.T. in The War of the Worlds (1953).After many rewatches over the years, This keeps on giving - the dramatic and visual shocks still work. This time round I recognised a young Ty Hardin (as one of Tom Tryon's beefcake swimming buddies). Probably missed him because he's credited here as Ty Hungerford. He later played the boyfriend of, gulp, Joan Crawford in Berserk (1967). Hardin was also the FIRST choice to play 1966 Batman - only because he was unavailable did Adam West get the part.As the groom, Tom Tryon is very good at doing very little - a spaced out, distant look, similar to Keir Dullea after his brain was fried by the trip through the star gate.

The bride, Gloria Talbott, made a handful of low budget horrors (The Cyclops, Daughter of Dr Jekyll, The Leech Woman), but this is easily the best. Her performance anchors the entire story, undermined by being imprisoned in too-tight teenage angora sweaters, her chest lit as carefully as her face. Though this emphasises the limits of how sexuality could be portrayed at the time.Director Gene Fowler Jr worked on as much TV as film, and mainly as an editor (one of his last credits was Skatetown U.S.A.!). His experience is evident in some seamless scene transitions, and a clever, subtle use of back projection and reflections.

Besides the other 'they look just like us' stories, this would make a great double-bill with I Was A Teenage Werewolf (1957). The same director saddled with another silly title, but again a serious horror film with sexuality barely contained beneath the surface. This time the agonies of adolescence with a teenager who can't hide his raging lust (above).

The DVD is presented anamorphic widescreen, though it looks a little tight top and bottom. This isn't too distracting, but the lack of clean-up of film scratches in a movie that takes place mostly at night certainly is.

February 15, 2014

A look through British movie magazines published in 1979. Spread over two posts because it's picture-heavy...
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Photoplay Film Annual 1979

Revisiting the 1979 Photoplay Annual at the end of last year proved timely because I'd just seen Persistence of Vision, the documentary about how Richard Williams never completed this epic animated film The Thief and the Cobbler. Here he is in 1978 drawing caricatures of Vincent Price for the villain of the story.
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Photoplay Film Annual 1979

This photo of Gene Wilder's Bel Air home in California includes a rare colour look at the portrait of his character's father in Young Frankenstein (1974). Er, I mean, Fronkensteen.

Film Review, January

The overdue sequel to The Guns of Navarone starring (pictured below) Harrison Ford, Robert Shaw (Jaws), Edward Fox (The Day of the Jackal) and Carl Weathers (halfway between Rocky and Predator). The bridge in the background is the target of their mission.

Photoplay Film Annual 1979

By the time ﻿Force 10 From Navarone was released, Robert Shaw had passed away, during the filming of Avalanche Express.

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Film Review, January

Just when you thought it was safe to go back to the cinema, Jaws returned. Jaws 2 followed Sweeney 2's lead by using a number '2' instead of the stuffy Roman numerals of Damien: Omen II and Exorcist II: The Heretic (and so on).

As you can see, Jaws 2 opened on Boxing Day. A summer movie in the USA that landed for the Christmas holidays in Britain!

Film Review, February

By the way, the ghastly half-eaten corpse of the killer whale was a full-sized prop built for the film. I know this because of the book of the making of the film - The Jaws 2 Log.

﻿As a general rule, I like Woody Allen films when he's trying to be funny and Clint Eastwood films when he isn't. I went to see it at the time because it was Clint, but the slapstick biker gang and orang-utan with terrible teeth haven't lured me back for a rewatch, despite Ruth Gordon.

Superman - The Movie landed before Christmas. Most of the newspaper stories focussed on Brando's salary. The publicity pushed the special visual effects developed for the flying sequences. The production team had experimented with some desperate methods to make human flight look realistic, including firing dummies out of a cannon. Wirework and bluescreen to the rescue!

Film Review, February

Film Review, May

Superman - The Movie proved so successful that it was still playing in West End cinemas six months after it had opened!

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Films and Filming, February

Capricorn One is responsible for boosting the idea that the Moon missions were faked in a movie studio. The conspiracy angle is well portrayed but diluted by comedy and a heap of action. But the climactic helicopter chase scene is remains superbly thrilling.More about Capricorn One here,

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Film Review, March

Meanwhile, Britain was in a post-apocalyptic mood - the final Quatermass TV series was made independently (and shown on ITV) because the BBC thought Nigel Kneale's Quatermass script was too downbeat. Here's John Mills on the set of Ringstone Round. Also known as The Quatermass Conclusion.More about Quatermass (1979) here.

America has always found Anthony Hopkins creepy. His first leading roles in the US were in horror films, long before The Silence of the Lambs - after Audrey Rose (1977) he had a hit with this creepy puppet murder mystery Magic.

Films and Filming, February

Photoplay, March

Damien: Omen II tracks the son of the Devil heading towards the White House. Anyone who stands in his way mysteriously removed by accidents and crazed animals... Notice above an early memorable role for Lance Henriksen, and the star of Roger Corman's The Tomb of Ligeia (1964), Elizabeth Shepherd (in red), returning to the horror genre as a haunted journalist with an unfortunate roadside manner.After the success of The Omen, three sequels were announced. But Omen III: The Final Conflict wrapped up the story early.More about Damien: Omen II here.

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Film Review, April

Another winner based on an imaginative novel by Ira Levin (Rosemary's Baby, The Stepford Wives). The Boys From Brazil played upon then-current fears that many surviving senior Nazis were up to something in South America. Though surely Dr Mengele's ghoulish experience with cloning would surely have been welcomed in a dozen other countries?

Film Review, April

Philip Kaufman's (below right) Invasion of the Body Snatchers is more a sequel than a remake of the 1956 original. Kevin McCarthy (below left) even continues his role. Starring Donald Sutherland, Nancy Allen, Veronica Cartwright, Jeff Goldblum and Leonard Nimoy, it's found a new audience with new blu-ray releases in the UK and US.

Battlestar Galactica first hit Britain as a movie, edited together from several TV episodes, mainly the first three of the series. The Sensurround rumble track added to the experience. Two more films were released before all the episodes were televised.

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Film Review, June

Film Review, April

Despite not having a clue who was popular on Saturday Night Live (it was never broadcast in Britain), or what National Lampoon was and barely even knowing what a 'frat house' was, National Lampoon's Animal House was still a hit in Britain, serving as a skewed introduction to American college life.
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When the war was over, Vietnam war films rapidly became a cliche. But The Deer Hunter and Apocalypse Now were major front-runners.
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Photoplay, April

These early publicity photos from The Deer Hunter show the main characters in pre-war happiness. The photos that accompanied the reviews were usually from the shattering and controversial scenes of 'Russian roulette'.

Film Review, May

This was a huge hit for Robert De Niro and young Christopher Walken (above). The critics also praised John Cazale's performance, but publicity for the actor was more muted because he'd sadly passed away the previous year, The Deer Hunter his final film.

Photoplay, March

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Film Review, May

Richard Beckinsale had also died prematurely, just as publicity was beginning for the BBC spin-off movie for Porridge, later released in the summer.

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Film Review, May

I'd read about Fantasia but it still hadn't appeared on TV, like many of the major animated Disney films. This re-release was a rare chance to see it in the cinema with its original stereo sound restored.
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Film Review, May

While Richard Williams was working on his tale of the Arabian Nights, this remake of The Thief of Baghdad arrived just before Arabian Adventure. Notice the completely insane pairing with another Spiderman live-action (TV) movie.

Film Review, May

After the success of Animal House, young director John Landis' previous comedy Kentucky Fried Movie had an overdue release in Britain. From the writers of Airplane, this sketch compilation is far less well-known, despite including a disaster movie spoof and the use of famous cameos with actors playing ridiculous situations straight-faced.

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Film Review, June

Here's director John Landis performing stunts in his fight with an escaped gorilla - actually a great Rick Baker suit. For their previous film together, John Landis had been made up by Baker as the titular missing link 'Schlock'. Later collaborations included extensive make-up effects in American Werewolf In London, Coming To America and Michael Jackson's Thriller. Baker had returned to low-budget films despite his extensive work on the 1976 King Kong blockbuster, for which he had very little credit.

Remake! The Wiz was an expansion of the hit Broadway musical that retold The Wizard of Oz with a black cast. Inventive reimaginings of the characters included early make-up effects from Stan Winston. The production substituted a tweaked version of Manhattan to represent Dorothy's journey to Oz, memorably the Brooklyn Bridge and the climax at the World Trade Centre. I'm not sure how this did in Britain but the double album soundtrack was certainly successful.
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Photoplay, May

Critics weren't fooled by 33 year-old Diana Ross playing Dorothy, but The Wiz needed star power. Richard Pryor has little more than a cameo and Michael Jackson was a rising pop star rather than a box office name. Note Joel Schumacher in the credits as screenwriter, building on his success with the script for Car Wash.

Photoplay, May

The title of the article says it all! Here's Kurt Russell portraying Elvis in a American TV movie directed by John Carpenter (this is before Escape From New York). Part of the rush to commemorate The King, who died in 1977. Kurt had been doing TV since his early run as a young star in Disney movies. This also known as Elvis - The Movie!

A sultry Jan-Michael Vincent as one of the three surfers up against Big Wednesday, written and directed by John Milius.

Film Review, June

Films Illustrated, June

After the critical success of Badlands, writer and director Terrence Malick spent a looooong time filming the epic western Days of Heaven. The exterior cinematography was mainly filmed during the 'magic hour' and the script was written during the shoot. The press savaged it because of the runaway budget and here it is opening at only one, smaller West End screen. Malick's continued attention to detail and refusal to rush into projects has encouraged his past work to be reappraised and celebrated.

Walter Hill's The Warriors had far more obvious appeal to teenaged me, and remains a mythic treat. The epic story of a street gang trying to elude every other in order to get to their home turf like, er, Dorothy. As inThe Wiz, New York City is a romanticised backdrop, looking almost friendly compared to the nightmares encountered on this major location shoot around Manhattan.

Films and Filming, April

Gang violence was and is a huge problem and the tough image and promise of street fights made the Daily Mail do back flips as they continued to denounce 'screen violence'. Despite The Warriors only shedding one dribble of blood at the hands of the police. But actual gang fights in cinemas remained a problem in the US and the film had to be withdrawn there.

February 12, 2014

Continuing my look through British movie magazines published in 1979. Part 1 is here.

Always a favourite for the summer season, a new Bond movie. Moonraker was influenced by the sci-fi boom that started with Star Wars and there's even an awful in-joke referencing Close Encounters of the Third Kind. But 007 wasn't the only one to cash in. The rest of the year was dominated by outer space movies that had taken two years to get their special effects together...

Film Review, July

Film Review, July

Other summer movies include this late disco movie inspired by the dance competition of Saturday Night Fever. The Music Machine was named after the Camden nightclub (that's now Koko). Another disco dancer, another dance competition, but it's the views of 1970s' North London that I now enjoy.

Another British movie that's a little less summery. Scum burst onto the screen. Because the BBC had refused to show their 1977 version of it, the script was completely refilmed for the cinema, with many of the same cast including Ray Winstone in the lead. The main difference in this new adaption was that Carlin no longer has a male lover sharing his cell.

Films and Filming, July

There's rarely been such a violent and uncompromising British film. Scum portrays life in a boy's borstal for young offenders. The prison system complained about the film, while writer/director Alan Clarke insisted the events were all based in reality, the only licence taken was to compress the events into a single timeframe.

Films and Filming, July

While horror films had their violence and blood regularly censored, Scum packed many shocks for me as a teenager by being apparently uncut. Put me off borstal as well...

Films and Filming, July

Werner Herzog's Nosferatu sneaked into cinemas before the new Hollywood adaption of Dracula. Klaus Kinski starred with Isabelle Adjani and Bruno Ganz.

Film Review, August

Ralph Bakshi's animated version of The Lord of the Rings ploughed through half the story of the trilogy in two hours. Problem was, Bakshi wasn't allowed to complete the story and make a second film. I waited thirty years for Peter Jackson's films to find out how the epic story ended! This version is undoubtedly an influence on the Jackson trilogy, with many scenes, characters and even accents carried over to the live-action films.

Photoplay, August

Film Review, August

The first movie for The Muppets. The Muppet Show was a raging success on TV, so let's make a movie. While Muppets used basic puppetry, Jim Henson pushed what was technically possible far further in this and The Great Muppet Caper (1981), and on to the limit with the non-Muppet fantasy, The Dark Crystal (1982).Note that this wordy advert was aimed at making sure the adults come and see it too.

Photoplay, August

"Star Wars with flying carpets...". Well. There are flying carpets in Arabian Adventure, but more importantly Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee!

Photoplay, August

Space adventure was big on TV and like Battlestar Galactica, the pilot movie for Buck Rogers in the 25th Century was also released in British cinemas, with a few extra, adult jokes.

Films Illustrated, September

Paul Schrader (above left) wrote and directed American Gigolo, casting Richard Gere (right) in the lead. The style and music of this story of an expensive male escort anticipated the 80s' obsessions with male fitness and grooming.

Film Review, September

Another BBC TV series with a big screen adaption, featuring Richard Beckinsale's final role. The actor passed away before the film appeared in cinemas. Note that the support film is the concert documentary about the first pop star from the west to perform in Russia. Elton John's recent Russian tour had a far rockier reception as he spoke out about the country's discriminatory laws against gay Russian citizens.

Film Review, September

A story of conspiracy and cost-cutting in the nuclear power industry, The China Syndrome was a fictional riff on elements of the Silkwood case (later filmed in 1983). This had an unexpected boost when a very similar meltdown event happened for real in Three Mile Island, two weeks after the US premiere!

Film Review, September

Fun to see Michael Douglas when he was young, hot, bearded and badly-dressed. But besides starring he also produced The China Syndrome. Note below the 16mm film camera was still being used for news gathering.

Photoplay, September

Films Illustrated, September

Drac's back! This time, as a big-budget adaption of the Broadway revival that played up the Count's sexuality but was subtle on fangs. Frank Langella repeated his stage role and this version was actually shot on location in England - but in Cornwall, not Whitby.

The rush to use Harrison Ford as a leading man began as soon Star Wars was a hit. Presumably he wasn't yet fussy about scripts. Here he is with Lesley-Anne Down in the World War II romantic drama Hanover Street.

Advance publicity for The Village People movie Can't Stop The Music. Unfortunately the disco glitterball had burst by the time it was released the following summer.

Films and Filming, October

John Frankenheimer had made some superb films - The Manchurian Candidate, Seconds, Grand Prix, Birdman of Alcatraz, The Train... but Prophecy is far from his best. In fact, it's enjoyably terrible. With unconvincing rubber monsters, it compares badly to the far cheaper, earlier Grizzly for action and thrills. The lush cinematography and solid cast (Armand Assante, Talia Shire) work better as an eco-drama instead of a monster movie, with poor miniature work and a man-in-a-suit getting laughs even then.

Films and Filming, October

Alien's debut getting lost among the new releases. Ridley Scott wasn't yet a name, the cast wasn't 'A' list, the critics hadn't seen it yet...

Film Review, October

From the dates of these articles, and from what I remember, Scum and Quadrophenia both had standalone releases earlier in the year, but proved so popular that they quickly reappeared in this double-bill. Some bright spark eventually realised Ray Winstone was a highlight of both films, and That Summerand the star of the Scum TV play (1977) to name him a 'new face'...

Photoplay, November

Film Review, October

Any unused ideas that were too stupid for previous Airport films were then all thrown into this overloaded but entertaining disaster movie. The cockpit resembles an erotic dream with Sylvia Kristel (Emmanuelle) as an Air Stewardess and Alain Delon, the pilot.

'How to sell Alien' proved a problem for the sexy world of seventies' publicity. Sigourney Weaver's unflattering overalls has to be boosted by this glamorous model shoot...

Film Review gave Alien a good spread inside, but another lousy front cover, lost amongst a Joan Collins sequel and a cheap Farrah Fawcett-Majors 'comedy'. The September release of Alien safely missed the Christmas duel of big-budget space movies...

Film Review, October

Alien's box office success meant that Film Review covered the film for a third month, this time with behind-the-scenes photos, including this rare upward angle of the full-size 'Navigator' set.

Film Review, November

In a spacey year, Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now finally hit cinemas. Marlon Brando's brief role was used heavily in the publicity.

Films Illustrated, November

After the mammoth undertaking of the The Deep (1977), director Peter Yates probably fancied a smalltown drama with no special effects. Breaking Away is a cycling/coming-of-age comedy drama that gained him far better reviews. He was also ahead of the game with this young cast - pictured above are Jackie Earle Haley, Dennis Quaid, Daniel Stern and Dennis Christopher.

Film Review, November

The tape of things to come. Home video was still hugely expensive, the decks and the cassettes. But a lucky few could now watch family-favourites such as The Sound of Music and The Boston Strangler...

Photoplay, November

Cheech and Chong and, ahem, Stacy Keach in Up In Smoke. And Tom Skerritt has two movies in cinemas...

Film Review, November

Space wars! The battle of the Christmas movies! Star Trek - The Motion Picture opened in Leicester Square Odeon the day after The Black Hole opens at the Empire. But why choose? I saw both. To this day, I still consider The Black Hole a Christmas movie.